I’m not a big fan of the No Child Left Behind law, but it IS the law and it’s fascinating to watch school districts squirm over how to comply now that the law has exposed the fact that some children are not achieving. Take what’s now being considered in Orange County Schools. One elementary school is high-performing. Another is low-performing. What’s the answer to helping the low-performing kids? Look at merging the two schools. My translation: mix the high and low scores together to come up with an average that passes muster with NCLB. Really sad for the kids who aren’t learning, many of whom are from low income families. That will be used as an argument to merge the two schools. I grew up poor, and I can tell you that my achievement in school had ZERO to do with the family income of the kids sitting near me in my classroom. I was a pre-teen before I even realized that many of my school friends weren’t poor. What allowed me to learn was the influence of teachers who expected me to do well, and who gave me – and all the other kids – extra help when needed. Math was my weakness. If Orange succeeds in papering over the problems of some of their students, don’t be surprised when the kids drop out.